Marco Longhi MP: Kemi Badenoch can bring growth and opportunity to the West Midlands
Dudley North MP Marco Longhi is backing Kemi Badenoch to be the next Tory leader. Here he explains why he believes the Conservatives have failed to do enough since winning the 2019 general election – and why Ms Badenoch is the best candidate to restore the public's faith in the Government.
In 2019, thousands of voters gave their support to the Conservative Party and elected Conservative representatives, like myself in Dudley North, for the first time. Three years after the Brexit referendum result our country had yet to receive what it had voted for, and we were trusted to deliver it.
The 2016 referendum was a vote against a political establishment that had long ignored the concerns and interests of many voters across the country, especially in the West Midlands. The slow delivery of Brexit in the years following only served to further disenchant these people.
Having supported Brexit, I shared their frustration. That’s why I stood on the Conservative Party’s 2019 election platform to establish a people’s government, one that existed solely to serve the interests of the voters. The 2019 result revealed how tired people were of tribal ideological squabbles, relentless party-politics, and dishonesty.
However, since then we have failed to do enough to restore the electorate’s faith in our politics. But it is not too late. The Conservative Leadership election offers us a chance to renew and make good on our promises. By electing the right leader, we can bring truth and honesty back to our politics, and deliver for the people that elected us. That is why I am backing Kemi Badenoch for the leadership Conservative Party, and to be our next Prime Minister.
We owe it to every single voter to get on with the job of improving opportunities across the country, especially in seats like mine across the Black Country and the West Midlands. Kemi was a minister in the Department for Levelling Up so understands the challenges our communities face, and the work that needs to be done to overcome them.
But we can also trust Kemi to be honest with us about these challenges. She knows that we will never be able to achieve a perfectly balanced or equal economy and is clear that just throwing temporary cash at the problem will not solve anything. We need to tackle the root causes. Kemi’s solutions will always be practical and principled, and she has the experience, courage, and ability to put them in place.
Our area has been a cradle of commercial progress since the Industrial Revolution. Britain relied upon the Black Country and West Midlands then, and it is a vital component of the country’s economic engine today. The innovations and accomplishments of figures like James Watt and Matthew Boulton dramatically improved the quality of life for citizens across the United Kingdom.
The people of the Black Country and West Midlands represent the best of British values. They are hard-working, honest, family-orientated and no-nonsense. To me, these values are best represented in this leadership race by Kemi. Working in McDonalds to put herself through college then graduating with an engineering degree, she understands the meaning of hard work. And you can be certain that she will work harder than ever to deliver for the West Midlands and the entire country.
It is thanks to the trust of people like this, across areas like Dudley, Birmingham and Burton, Stafford and Stoke-on-Trent, Nuneaton and West Bromwich - the Conservative Party has a chance to build on the work of our Mayor Andy Street and truly champion the West Midlands. With Kemi in Downing St, and the continued support of hard working constituents like mine, we can bring growth and opportunity to the West Midlands, and bring truth back to our politics.
